APPLETON, Wis. -- Three big plays and a bend-but-don't-break defense led the Lake Forest College football team to a 20-12 Midwest Conference victory at Lawrence University on Saturday.
More than half of Lake Forest's offense came on its three touchdown plays, a 45-yard pass to Brock Stenberg, a 57-yard run by Stenberg, and a 78-yard pass to Dan Carter. Lake Forest (2-4, 2-3 MWC) finished with 329 yards of offense, with 180 coming on those three big plays.
Lawrence (0-5, 0-5) piled up 449 yards of offense, including 242 on the ground, but the Vikings converted only 2 of 7 chances in the red zone.
Craig Ebert paced the Lawrence offense with 15 carries for a career-high 169 yards. Nick Maxam was 23 of 39 passing for 205 yards, and Jeremiah Johnson caught eight passes for 58 yards.
Stenberg ran 15 times for 101 yards, and Carter had seven catches for 161 yards.
Lawrence's first two possessions ended with turnovers (fumble, downs) inside the Lake Forest 15-yard line. The Foresters then scored on Geoff Sobey's 45-yard scoring pass to Stenberg for a 7-0 lead.
The Vikings countered early in the second quarter when Ebert broke free for a 59-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked, and Lake Forest led 7-6.
Lawrence took its next drive all the way to the Lake Forest 2 before stalling. The Vikings settled for Peter Mohr's 26-yard field goal and took a 9-7 lead. The Vikings nearly got another score just before the half when Jon Bruehl caught Maxam's short pass on the last play of the half and was tackled at the Lake Forest 6 as time expired.
Lake Forest took the lead back two plays into the second half when Stenberg went up the middle for a 57-yard touchdown and a 13-9 lead.
The Vikings again drove to the Lake Forest 20, but Maxam's fourth-down pass to Johnson was ruled incomplete, and the Foresters took over on downs. Carter made a juggling catch two plays later and went 78 yards for a touchdown and a 20-9 lead.
Lawrence turned the ball over on downs on its next two drives, the first at the Lake Forest 25 and the next at the Lake Forest 14. The Vikings lost a fumble on their next drive at the Lake Forest 18.
The Vikings drove to the Lake Forest 3 on its next drive but had to settle for Mohr's 20-yard field goal to cut the lead to 20-12 with 6:11 left in the game.
Lawrence's last drive was snuffed out on an interception on a tipped ball with just over a minute left.
The Vikings travel to Knox College next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. game.